Terebovlia Castle

Terebovlia Castle is one of the oldest and most important defensive strongholds of Western Ukraine, towering on Castle Hill in the city of Terebovlia. The history of the fortress dates back to the 11th century when Prince Vasylko Rostyslavovych built the first wooden castle here, which was later probably destroyed by the hordes of Batu Khan. In 1360, the Polish King Casimir the Great erected a new stone castle on this site. Due to numerous attacks by Tatars and Turks, the fortress suffered destruction, and in 1631, starosta Aleksander Bałaban began the construction of a new, much more powerful stronghold. The new castle had an irregular plan and consisted of three towers (southern, northern, and eastern) connected by high walls, the thickness of which reached up to 4 meters. The entrance to the fortress was located in the eastern wall and had the appearance of a Renaissance arch made of hewn white stone; the hard-to-reach gate was situated at a height of about three meters from the base. In 1675, the castle went down in history thanks to its heroic defense against a 10,000-strong Turkish army, when the commandant's wife, Anna Dorota Chrzanowska, prevented capitulation and inspired the defenders. After the return of Kamianets-Podilskyi in 1699, Terebovlia Castle lost its strategic significance, and its further use was limited to housing chancelleries. In the 1930s, the Polish authorities carried out the conservation of the ruins, and in 2008, the castle was included in the National Reserve "Castles of Ternopillia".